


Lucid Storm

by teallaws



Category: Original Work, lucid storm
Genre: Action, Angst, Anxiety, Asexual Relationship, Crime Fighting, Depression, Friendship, LGBTQ Character, Magic-Users, Modern Era, Multi, Multiple Narrators, Multiple Personalities, POV First Person, POV Multiple, Platonic Relationships, Posthumous Characters, Queerplatonic Relationships, Supernatural Elements, Superpowers, everyone's 20+, foe yay rivalries, lots of foe yay rivalries, mage battles, very heavily based off anime and manga
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-15 09:29:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12318315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teallaws/pseuds/teallaws
Summary: In 2019, activity in the magi-underworld has grown exponentially. ETMA, one of the largest magi-organizations in the world, recruits several elite mages - people gifted with special abilities - to counter these criminals. But this is merely only the beginning. As these elites grow with their powers and become increasingly well-known in the magi-community, a new threat lurks in the shadows, waiting to strike...Lucid Storm follows the stories of six of these so-called mages.





	1. Chapter 0: ETMA

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Welcome to Lucid Storm, my original story that I've been working on since 2011! So six years now (damn that's a lot). And during those six years, I've definitely had to edit a lot of stuff, SO. Here we are. This is the start of my complete rewrite of the story! This is the prologue chapter, so chapter one will be next after this! If you like it, please let me know what you think in the comments section! I want your feedback you guys! So sit back, and enjoy Lucid Storm!
> 
> Chapter 0 Summary:
> 
> Al Smith was not expecting to be sent to Miami, Florida for anything, let alone a new job offer. Said job offer was a position at one of the world’s most renowned mage agencies, ETMA. The fact that his sister and two childhood friends were recruited too was just the icing of the cake. First day debriefings and a shounen manga-esque pep talk ensue!

Chapter 0: ETMA [Al Smith]

Today went off to a pretty slow start. But what I didn’t expect was for my dad to drag my sister and me all the way down to Florida along with our two best friends. Not that we were really complaining though; all four of us were either out of school or taking random classes at the local community college, so we didn’t have much of a reason to argue our way out of our current situation.

“Augh, are we there yet?” My sister, Lex, groaned from the seat next to me. We had left the Miami Airport about 30 minutes before and after only a 2 hour flight, so I didn’t see what the big deal was to be honest.

“Yeah, almost,” Dad reassured her from the driver’s seat. “But we really haven’t been driving for that long. Are you that bored already?”

“No, that’s not it at all. I just want to get this over with so that I can go back to sleep. And what bugs me is that you woke us up at the crack of dawn just so we could catch a plane at the last minute!”

“Heh heh, sorry about that. Though, I only got my orders this morning, so this was the best that I could do.”

She let out a great big sigh and folded her arms across her chest. “Yeah, well they should at least give us a few days warning next time. It’s so inconvenient, and I didn’t get much sleep last night because of it!”

“Well, if you’re that tired, then you could’ve-”

“Don’t even go there!” Lex turned right on the spot and glared in my direction. “There was no way I could’ve slept on the plane, it was too bumpy! And those kids kicking my seat sure didn’t help either! So zip it!”

Things pretty much always ended up like this. Whenever Lex and I talk with each other, it usually turns into an argument, just like that. “Hey, relax. I’m just trying to give you advice! Is that a problem?”

“When you’re being sarcastic about it, yes!”

“Okay guys, let’s calm down, alright?!” Enter the first of our two mediators, Will Parker. Whenever Lex and I started arguing, he would be the one to try to settle things verbally. As to how effective that was, I’d say it was about 50% of the time, maybe even less than that. But he still tried regardless.

Anyway, Will had turned around to face us from the front seat to try to talk us down once again. “Come on, let’s just try to be civil about things, okay? After all, we are almost there!”

“Yeah, thank god. I don’t think I could stand sitting next to him any longer.”

I copied her posture and slid down in my seat. “Well, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I haven’t done a single thing to you all day, so what’s your problem?”

“See, see? There’s the sarcasm again! I swear, that is all that ever comes out of your mouth these days, and it drives me off the edge!”

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

“What did I just say?!”

“Guys, please!” Will did his best to try to get us to stop, but Lex and I had found ourselves in a full-blown argument at this point, so no dice. “Just a few more minutes, and we’ll be there! That’s good, right?”

Still nothing. “Augh… Emma! A little help here please?!”

Both of us shut up really quick and turned our heads left as our second mediator pulled out her earbuds and gave us the death glare - Will’s younger sister and my best friend, Emma Parker. During those times when Will couldn’t stop us from arguing, that’s when Em would step in. She was the one to literally break up our fights, either by scolding us or by resorting to force and violence. And unlike Will, her methods were 100% effective every time.

She glared at the two of us for a few seconds before conjuring up a fireball with the snap of her fingers. “Do I need to switch seats with one of you?” The way she delivered it was downright terrifying.

“Nope, we’re good!” I didn’t need to be told twice. I wouldn’t dare cross her.

“Uh huh. And no more arguing, right?”

Lex let out a nervous laugh. “No no, of course not! We’ve got everything under control, don’t worry!” Then she leaned to the side and hugged me. “Isn’t that right Bro?”

“Yeah, sure thing! We’ll be good, Em!”  
She eyed us suspiciously for a bit longer, and we stared right back, albeit very anxiously. Then her demeanor changed altogether as the fireball vanished, and her face broke out into a wide grin. “Now that’s more like it!”

Will sighed with relief as Em clapped me on the back. “Now let’s lighten up the mood here, guys! I mean, we’ve got ourselves a new job! I’m excited!”

Dad laughed from up front. “Well, at least one of you is lively back there. And…. We’re here!”

It was about time! I leaned over against Em as we both looked out the window at our new home.

The Elemental Tectonic Mage Alliance, or “ETMA” for short: it was a massive organization affiliated with the United Nations tasked with handling affairs involving rogue mages- people gifted with special abilities- and the like. My dad, Joe Smith, had been working for ETMA for a long time, and he had trained the four of us over the past several years so that we’d have better control over our powers, as we were all mages. And now it seemed that ETMA was in some kind of trouble, so Dad finally brought us in.

Anyway, Dad drove onto the base and parked the car a little ways in. Leaving our luggage inside to pick up later, the five of us headed inside what I thought looked to be the main building on base. Eventually, we made it to the assigned room where everyone was supposed to be meeting. And when we stepped inside…

“Well… This is shocking.” I looked around the room to find it completely empty. “We’re actually the first ones here, I don’t believe it.”

Even Lex was surprised. “Yeah seriously, Dad. What happened to being fashionably late?”

Dad ushered us in and propped the door open. “Yeah, well I’m best friends with ETMA’s leader, so I kind of have to make a good first impression here.”

“Well, you don’t necessarily have to, but it sure does help in the long run.” We hadn’t even been there ten seconds when someone else entered the room. After taking one good look, I could tell in an instant that this guy was important. There were a few things that could easily be pointed out, such as the long red hair worn back in a ponytail, but what made him stand out the most was the blindfold covering his eyes.

Dad was smiling. “Speak of the devil.” He bounded over to the guy with the blindfold and gave him a sideways hug. “Nice to see you again, Shuuhei!” Then he waved at the rest of us and beckoned us over. “Hey kids, come on over and say hi to your new boss!”

I figured as much, but it was still a little bit surprising to me all the same. “Wait, so he’s the leader then?”

“In the flesh,” the blindfold guy replied as he broke away from Dad. He held out his hand for each of us to shake once we reached the two of them. “Imada Shuuhei, it’s good to have you all on board!”

Will was the last of us to shake hands with him. “We’re just glad that we’ll be of good use to you. Anything we can do to help out!”

Meanwhile, Em had put her knuckles against her mouth and was gazing curiously at Shuuhei. “Erm, I don’t want to be acting out-of-line here or anything, but could I ask you something? I don’t know if it’s too personal to ask about though, but…”

“I don’t see why not. Ask away.”

“Right, okay. What’s up with the blindfold? Like, can you even see under that thing?”

I was actually glad she asked that, because I was positive I wasn’t the only one thinking it. Who wouldn’t wonder about that anyway?

Shuuhei smiled and shifted his footing a bit before answering. “Oh yeah, I get that a lot actually. Let’s see… To answer your first question, I have my reasons for wearing this thing.” He gestured to the blindfold as he mentioned it. “As for the second one… Yes and no. I guess you could say that I can’t see in the traditional sense, but my powers actually allow me to- oh, never mind…”

He drifted off as several people began filing into the room. “Looks like we’ll have to pick this one up later, sorry!” And with that, Shuuhei left our group and approached the front.

We couldn’t argue with that. The rest of us all sat down in a group together, but Lex made it a point to sit as far away from me as possible. I didn’t mind though, as I was sitting by Em anyway. 

“Morning everyone!” Shuuhei announced once it seemed that everyone had finally gotten there. “I’m sorry you all had to come here on short notice, but what with everything going on lately, it had to be done.” Then he looked around at the small crowd, which consisted of what I’d say to be about 20 people. “Now, maybe some brief introductions are in order? That way, we can get to know each other more?”

Right off the bat, a Japanese-looking girl with a long black ponytail sitting not too far away from me spoke up. “Let’s skip the formalities, Shuuhei. We can introduce ourselves later.” She then sat up straight and stared him right in the eye. “So, what happened?”

“Right… Very well, Cho.” Shuuhei let out an audible sigh and nodded. “Okay. As most of you should be aware of by now, ETMA primarily deals in magi-affairs, but our main enemy is the Chang-Los. They are an anti-mage crime syndicate originating out of Hong Kong, China, and have spread their influence into several other countries. We’ve been fighting these guys for almost 20 years now, but we still haven’t come close to catching their leader since then.”

“Another thing I’d like to mention is that over the past several years, the number of mages within our ranks has diminished greatly, but hasn’t been that much of a problem since everyone within the Chang-Los are all non-mages. Also…”

“Oh boy,” Cho spoke again, this time sounding a bit irritated. “Shuuhei, I love ya, but you’ve gotta get to the point here! What changed? Why bring us in now of all times against a whole bunch of asshole non-mages?”

“Because now they have mages of their own, that’s why.”

The whole room had gone silent. Shuuhei cleared his throat and then continued. “Let me explain. About a week ago, we found out about an alliance between the Chang-Los and what looks to be another mage organization, like ours. Not much is known about them at this point, but we do know that they go by the name of Melisma.”

This time, it was a brown-haired girl sitting next to Cho who spoke up. “So… are you sure we haven’t dealt with them before? I mean, if they’re another mage group…”

“Well, I’d like to say that they’re relatively new, but from the looks of things, it seems like they’ve been around for a while actually. Judging by the reports of several of our agents, these mages at the latest Chang-Lo operations were skilled enough with their powers to be able to give our agents a bit too much to handle. My guess is that these guys have been laying low for a while underground and have only now surfaced.”

“But anyway, the point here is that our regular agents are excellent when dealing with Chang-Los, but they aren’t fit to handle Melisma. It’s just too much for them. And that’s where you all will come in. While I have our non-mages scout out and do reconnaissance, it’s you who will actually be doing the fighting.”

He then looked over by the door, where I saw a woman leaning against the doorframe waiting for him. It must have been his secretary or something, but she had long red hair like Shuuhei’s, so she probably could’ve passed as his sister. “And that’s the gist of it, really! I think I’ll stop here for now and let you have a look around and everything. But before I head out, I just want to leave you with a few words of encouragement.”

Suddenly, Shuuhei’s stance changed in the blink of an eye. With both hands in his pockets, he stamped his foot down hard on the floor and looked straight at us. “Anything is possible if we set our minds to it! And no matter what’s in our way, we won’t stop! If there’s a wall in our way, we’ll just smash it down! If there isn’t a path set out in front of us, then we’ll carve one out ourselves! Live for today, but look forward to tomorrow! That’s how Team ETMA rolls!”

And then, the secretary-looking lady came in, grabbed Shuuhei by the arm, and nearly dragged him out of the room. “Okay, well I’ll check back in with everyone later on! Welcome to ETMA!”

… Now that was one hell of a way to inspire a crowd. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t there to see it, but the entire room, myself included, broke into a round of applause. I’d have to remind myself to thank Dad later for bringing me here, because this guy was so great. It was like he had come out of one of my favorite Japanese anime, so naturally, I was pretty damn pleased.

“Well, there you have it,” Dad said with a wave of finality. “So what do you guys think?”

Lex and Will were both nodding with satisfied looks, while Em smiled enthusiastically. “It sounds great! I think it’ll be fun!”

“Yeah, I’m game.” The minute I first saw Shuuhei, I could tell that I was definitely in the right place. “So, when do we start?”


	2. Chapter 1: First Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s ETMA’s first mage-assigned mission, and Minami Cho is the key to its success. Raiding a Chang-Lo hideout should be a breeze for her, not to mention the rest of her team, but a blast from the past could hinder everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are, into Lucid Storm proper! This one's a lot longer than the prologue, and this is typically how long chapters are going to be, with some slight exceptions here and there. Hope you enjoy, and please leave some feedback if you like it! Thanks!

Chapter 1: First Mission [Minami Cho]

I was thrilled to be back with ETMA after being gone for so long. It felt like I was waking up from a long-ass dream, only to find myself in a familiar setting again. I was finally at home. 

The first few days back on base went pretty well in my opinion. A few of the recruits were brand new to all of this, so all we had been doing since then was training. A few of us, myself included, had each been training several of the others over the years, so everyone was pretty skilled when it came to using their powers. This exercise though was mainly thought of as an icebreaker, to get to know each other more. So all in all, things worked out well!

As for the past day… One thing that I definitely did not miss while I was gone was the early morning schedule. While I was away from ETMA training new recruits, I was in charge of the whole enchilada, so that meant that I could pick and choose all the training times and everything. Not anymore, I couldn’t! So that morning, I was forced to wake up at the crack of dawn, and it was a real pain in the ass.

“Hey! Cho, time to get up!”

I slowly opened my eyes and raised my head up to see my roommate, Sammie Phoenix, prodding me on the shoulder. “Ugh… What time is it?”

“Ehm…. About 7 AM?”

“... Oh hell.” I threw myself back into my pillow with the full intention of going back to sleep. But before I knew it, I was shivering all over - Sammie had pulled the covers off of me. 

I put my arms around me and curled myself up into a ball as Sammie shook my shoulder. “Come on Cho, we’ve got to get moving!”

“Says who? And why the hell are you so damn chipper?”

“Shuuhei sent out the assignments for the first mission he’s having the mages go on. And we both got picked!”

“Oh yay… Woo,” I groggily gave her a high-five. “Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to get some more sleep.”

“You can’t go back to sleep, we have to leave!”

“Augh…” I turned over onto my side and looked her in the eye. “Right now?”

“Well… Shuuhei did say to meet him in the briefing room as soon as possible, so yeah.”

“Fuck.” She had me at the word ‘mission’. Despite how early it was, there was no way I could pass up the opportunity. After all, I was actually kind of hoping I’d get the first one anyway. So how could I say no?

“Alright, alright, I’m up.” It took me a few seconds, but I finally managed to sit up onto the mattress. Yawning, I raised my hands to my face and worked to rub the sand out of my eyes. “Augh, I can’t function this early in the morning, I don’t know how you do it.”

“Heh heh, well it just takes some getting used to. You’ll get back into the swing of things before you know it! Now how about this: you go ahead and get yourself ready while I’ll go and grab us some coffee. Sound good?”

“Sure, sure, fine. I’m goin’.” Even after Sammie had left, it took me about five more minutes for me to actually get out of bed. So I went through the usual morning routine - shower, hair, teeth, clothes - as fast as I could at 7 in the morning, which was definitely a lot slower than normal. And about 30-40 minutes later, Sammie and I were on our way to the base’s main building with hot coffee in our hands and a sports bag slung over my shoulder.

“Okay,” I took a swig of coffee as I pulled up Shuuhei’s e-mail on my phone. “Let’s see what we got here…”

And the e-mail was exactly what I expected it to be- a shit-ton of words. Shuuhei did love to ramble when it came to anything, but I didn’t have the time or the patience to read it all, so I just skipped down to the bottom to see everyone assigned to that mission. Sammie and I were there obviously, and so was Joe; including him, that made three veterans going on the mission. Then three of the new recruits were coming too: Al Smith, Emma Parker, and Ren Witten.

“Huh. Okay then…” I scrolled back up to the middle to find those three names in the roster. I knew that Ren went way back with Shuuhei, Al was one of Joe’s kids, and I remembered Emma from training. But the thing I was looking for in the e-mail was their abilities. After each name, their ability and mage classification were also listed. And according to that…

Well, Al was a water Elemental; hadn't seen many of those in a while. Then Ren was a Tectonic with bio manipulation- didn’t know what the hell that was, but whatever. The thing that got me interested though was Emma’s. She was listed as a fire user, which would’ve been pretty normal if it weren’t for the one word right next to it: Tecmentic. As to how a fire user could be a Tecmentic in the first place, I didn’t have a clue, but I figured I’d find out soon enough.

It turned out that it’d be a lot sooner than I thought. Sammie and I had reached the briefing room, and Shuuhei was waiting for us in there along with both Al and Emma.

“Morning!” As soon as I walked in, Shuuhei brought out a box of doughnuts as if it were a peace offering. “I brought breakfast!”

I eyed him suspiciously. “Uh huh, I see what you’re doing here. Don’t think you can pull one over on me, Shuuhei.” Of course, I said that as I grabbed two doughnuts and stuffed one of ‘em into my mouth.

“I know, I know, but it’s the least I could do. The fact that you all got here early shows your dedication, so you deserve this!”

“Thanks. But goddammit Shuuhei, does the mission have to be this early in the morning?”

“Eh… Kind of, yeah. You’re going overseas for this one, so it’s absolutely necessary.”

With my mouth full of doughnut, I set my sports bag down on the floor and plopped down into the seat nearest him. “Figures.”

“Well… I guess you don’t necessarily have to go. I can always assign someone else to go in your place if you’d rather sleep-in.”

I shook my head vigorously. “No no no, I’m fine! It’s all good!” I still felt like I was gonna pass out any minute, but I sure as hell couldn’t let Shuuhei down. He specifically asked for me, so I was gonna do everything in my power to deliver.

“Alright, if you’re sure…”

I leaned back and slid down in my seat as I looked up at the clock on the wall to check the time. It was almost eight, but Joe and Ren still hadn’t shown up yet, so I figured I’d kill some time until then.

“So,” I looked over at Emma and caught her attention, “you’re a Tecmentic, huh?”

“Hm? Oh yeah, I guess I am! But I’m not sure what that means though…”

“Yeah, I’ve also been curious about that,” Al nodded his head as he pulled out his phone. My guess was that he was pulling up that e-mail of Shuuhei’s from earlier. “I know that these are supposed to be mage classifications, but could someone at least explain what those are exactly? We weren’t really told anything when we first got here.”

“That is an excellent question!” I became fully alert when Shuuhei spoke. I had always dreaded hearing those words from him. “Now where should I start… Oh, right! You see, the magi-society-”

I bolted out of my chair and shoved my hand over his mouth before he could say anything else. “Don’t even think about it!”

“Come on Cho!” Shuuhei actually managed to say that and still be loud enough to hear despite having his mouth covered. “I have a really good answer for this!”

“Hell no. No one wants to hear your dissertation on ‘the Fundamentals of Mage Classification.’ We’d be stuck here for days if we let you talk!”

“But-”

“No buts! If anyone’s gonna do the talking, it’s gonna be me.” I figured we were safe at this point, so I moved my hand away. “So pipe down already!”

“Aw…” Not surprisingly, Shuuhei looked pretty disappointed there. “Well, alright.”

“Thank you.” I turned away from him to face Emma and Al. “Okay, so think back to training- both from the past few days and with Joe. You use your powers, but at some point you reach your limit and start getting really tired and can’t use ‘em anymore. Am I right?”

“Yeah…” Al nodded, “But then eventually you gain all that energy back.”

“Yep, that’s right. But here’s the question you should be asking here: how? Where does all of that energy come from?”

Both of their faces were blank, which was my cue to grab a dry-erase marker and start drawing on the whiteboard. “Mage abilities are typically powered by three different sources. And as such, it’s these sources where the classifications come from.”

I started off by drawing five small circles grouped together, each one labeled with the thing it represented. “First up are these guys- the Element Spheres. There’s some big myth about it, but I’ll spare you the details, unlike somebody I know.” I looked over at Shuuhei to get my point across before turning back to Al and Emma. “Anyway, the gist of it is that the Element Spheres supposedly carry all of Earth’s magical aura or somethin’.”

I pointed with my marker to each of the circles on the board. “Each sphere represents one of the classical elements: fire, water, earth, wind, energy. So naturally, it’s these guys that power up mages with elemental abilities. It’s kinda obvious really. But yeah, we call these guys ‘Elementals’. They’re probably the most common type of mage around to be honest, since there’re so many of ‘em out there.”

"Okay," Al raised his hand slightly, “so would that also apply to mages with abilities that aren’t one of those five elements in particular? Like my dad, for instance? He can control darkness, so…?”

“Basically saying, yeah. I mean, you’re gonna have a lot of stuff that branches off from one of those main five elements. Like sand. Sand is another form of earth, and I know at least one person who can control plants. And then darkness is definitely a sub-form of energy… Point being, Elementals are really common.”

The second thing I drew was my lousy representation of the earth. “Okay, mage type number 2 is the Tectonic. They’re powered by… you guessed it- plate tectonics. Don’t ask me why, that’s just how it is. Anyway, Tectonic mages have abilities that have something to do with the physical body, whether they affect themselves or other people. More often than not, the user is affecting their own body.”

“Like my brother, right?" Emma spoke up this time. "I think the e-mail said that he was one…”

“Your brother? Yeah, let’s see…” I quickly looked through that e-mail again and found his name in the list. “Will Parker, right? Ah, so he’s an endurance-type, interesting… Yep, that definitely fits! He’s basically like a tank; you know, super resistant to physical and magi-attacks and all that. Pretty convenient!”

“But anyway, there’s a lot of variety when it comes to Tectonic abilities. Super speed, invisibility, shape-shifting, and a whole lot of other things. They’re not as common as Elementals, but still pretty common all the same.”

Then I went on to draw some stars and a few bigger circles. “The last source is the stars and planets, and they’re responsible for powering up Psychics. These are the guys with ESP. So telepathy, precognition- all of those’ll fall under that. And Psychics are pretty rare compared to Elementals and Tectonics. I’m not exactly sure why that is, but most of the Psychics you’ll come across will likely be top-notch. Heh, I actually have a friend who’s a Psychic. Really powerful and all that! But she hasn’t been around for a while…”

I didn’t know why I mentioned that in the first place. All of a sudden, it just came right out of my mouth without me even realizing it. And then there I was, thinking about her along with those other two friends of mine all over again. ‘Seph, Hans, Derek- how long had it been since I’d heard their voices, seen them smiling, laughing? I really missed those days, but nothing was the same anymore, not since that time…

It was Al’s voice that brought me back to reality. “Are you okay?”

“Huh?” I grasped the back of my neck and massaged it gently. “Sure sure, I’m fine.”

Sammie saw right through me though. Before I could say anything else, she placed her hand on my shoulder. “I’ll take it from here,” she whispered into my ear.

I nodded and handed the marker over to Sammie. As she continued the mini-lecture, I moved away from the whiteboard to sit down on top a nearby table. After taking one long sip of coffee, I noticed Shuuhei standing there in front of me. Despite that blindfold hiding his eyes, I could easily tell the look he gave me was an understanding one.

He handed me another doughnut. “Here.”

I took it almost immediately. “Thanks.”

Shuuhei sat down next to me as I took one huge bite from the doughnut. “Anything you want to talk about?”

“I don’t know… I mean, it’s been seven years since the incident. That should be more than enough time for me to move on and shit, but I still haven’t been able to get over it. And it’s like everyone completely disappeared off the face of the earth! ‘Seph I could care less about, but Hans and Derek? It’s been ages since I’ve heard from them, and I haven’t been able to get in contact with them at all!”

More doughnut and more coffee. “It’s just so damn frustrating. They were my best friends, and now they’re all gone. You and Sammie are all that I’ve got left.”

There really wasn’t much else to say about it, at least with Shuuhei. He knew, he’d heard it all many times before this, and he listened every time I brought it up. Because of that, I could always rely on him when I needed that kind of support. 

True to form, Shuuhei wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled himself closer so that our sides were touching. “Well, there isn’t a whole lot I can say that’ll make you cheer up, but things like this definitely take a long time to finally move on from. And I know I’ve told you this about a hundred times already, but I’m always here for you. If you ever need to talk about anything, you just say the word. I’ll drop whatever I’m doing if it’s you.”

That was exactly what I needed to hear. I leaned in against him and rested my head onto his shoulder. “Thanks Shuuhei.”

We just sat there in silence for a few minutes, eyes closed and leaning against each other. Then eventually Sammie spoke to us after finishing up with the mini-lecture. “Hey, what time were we supposed to start again Shuuhei?”

“Around eight. We’re just waiting on Joe and Ren now.”

“Well, this is Dad we’re talking about,” Al sighed as he checked his phone again. “If it’s after eight, then he’ll probably be here any minute.”

And sure enough, as if right on cue, Joe appeared in the doorway. “Good Morning! I hope I didn’t keep everyone waiting too long!”

Al rolled his eyes without even looking up from his phone. “And what do you know, there he is now.”

Coming in after Joe was a girl with short brown hair and blue eyes, and I assumed that this had to be Ren. “Sorry Shuuhei! I wanted to be here like fifteen minutes earlier, but someone just couldn’t be bothered to leave until after eight o’ clock.”

“Oh come on, I’m just having some fun. Relax!” Joe clapped her on the back. “You’re way too uptight.”

Ren sighed as she sat down in the chair opposite me and Shuuhei. “Maybe. But if there’s a specific time that I need to be somewhere, I like to get there ahead of schedule and not be late!”

“Don’t worry about it Ren, it’s not a big deal,” Shuuhei assured her. “And now that everyone’s here, let’s get down to it, shall we?”

We both stood up; while I found the chair with my sports bag and sat back down, Shuuhei remained standing. “So, we’re takin’ down a Chang-Lo op?”

“Yes,” Shuuhei nodded. “Over the past several weeks, we’ve been working to stop one particular operation of theirs involving illegal drug manufacturing. We’ve been able to uncover most of their distribution facilities and take those out, but recently there have been a few problems concerning that.”

“Meaning Melisma?”

“Yes, exactly. While those missions were successful in the long run, our agents had started to struggle completing them efficiently once Melisma mages came into the picture. And that was only with about two or three mages stationed at each facility.”

“But anyway, back to your mission. Just the other day, we finally found the location of their main factory, where they actually make the drugs. I’m almost positive that this place will be very heavily guarded with Melisma mages, so that’s why I’m sending the six of you to do this.”

“So, what do you need us to do exactly?” Sammie asked him. “Are we actually going to be destroying the factory?”

“No no, that shouldn’t be necessary.” Then he looked over in my direction. “I mean, as long as the source of the drugs has been taken care of, then that should be satisfactory enough, I think.”

I nodded. “I gotcha. So you want me to find the source and blow it all up, am I right?”

“That’s the idea.”

I smiled and got to my feet, slinging that sports bag of mine over my shoulder. “Well, blowing stuff up is my specialty! So what’re we waitin’ for?”

“Right,” Shuuhei looked between the six of us. “Well, if there aren’t any other questions, then let’s get to it.”

He pulled out from his pocket a light-blue sphere about the size of a golf ball, which Sammie, Joe and I all knew was a portal sphere. Ren at least looked a tiny bit familiar with it, while Emma and Al, unsurprisingly, had never seen anything like it before. Shuuhei caught on to that too, since he immediately went to use it and made… a portal to our destination. “A portal sphere,” he showed them before pocketing it again. “It makes travelling instantaneous! Pretty neat, huh?”

Emma nodded very enthusiastically as she followed Sammie and Ren towards the portal and stuck her head in. “Whoa, yeah! This is awesome!”

“Yep, it sure is!” Joe then motioned to Shuuhei. “And I’ve got my own for the trip back, so don’t worry about us.”

“Noted.”

“Wait a minute,” Al stopped just before the portal and turned to face Joe. “You have one?”

“Yeah. I’ve had it for several years actually.”

“.... Well if that’s the case, then why did we have to take a plane to get here?! We could’ve just used that!”

Joe turned Al back around and guided him to the portal. “I figured that it would be better if we got to spend some more quality time together. You understand, right?”

“Augh, whatever, I don’t care. Just don’t mention it to Lex, okay? She’ll be pissed as hell if she finds out.”

Eventually, it was just me and Shuuhei in the room. “Are you sure you can handle this one?” Shuuhei asked me with a concerned look. “You did only just get back and all…”

“Shuuhei, relax! I’ve got this!” I pulled the strap of my sports bag up a little to draw his attention to it. “This baby should take care of everything!”

“Alright then. Well, good luck! And just call me if you need anything, okay?”

“You got it!” I gave him a thumbs up before stepping through the portal myself and joining back up with the others. Then as soon as the portal closed up behind me, I took a look around our new surroundings.

The six of us had come out onto the roof of a large run-down looking building, apparently in the middle of nowhere. It was nighttime, so we had to be in Asia, most likely somewhere in China since it was the Chang-Los we were dealing with here. “Okay,” I sighed as I placed a hand on my hip. “Now where can we drop down…”

“There’s an open window over here!” Ren was crouched down near the edge of the roof and was looking down the building’s backside. 

The rest of us approached her quietly. “Is it wide enough to pass through?” Joe asked.

“I’ll check, hang on.” She climbed down so that she was hanging from the roof, and then she swung herself through the window. After a few seconds of silence, she poked her head back out and nodded.

One by one, the rest of us out there did what Ren did and climbed down carefully until we were all safely inside the building. The window we had just come through was part of a bare empty room that we all soon left in any case. Soon enough, we came out onto a metal walkway that wrapped around the entire inside of the building. Down below on the ground level were a whole lot of machinery along with a couple of guards patrolling the area. 

“Okay,” Sammie whispered, “So how do we want to go about this? Keep the stealth game up?”

Joe shook his head. “No, I think we’d be better off if we just go in guns ablazing. Besides, the Chang-Los aren’t a threat here, but Melisma is, so we’re going to need to find those mages as quickly as possible.”

“Alright,” I fingered the strap of my sports bag, “what do ya got in mind?”

“We should split up.” He gestured to himself, Al and Emma. “I’ll take these two, and we’ll act as the distraction and flush out the enemy, get as many of them onto us as possible. Then you guys can go for the drug source without too much trouble.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Al looked over the railing. “So how should we get their attention then?”

“Leave it to me.” Not even a second later, Emma had sent a fireball down to the ground, and boom- all the nearby machinery had caught on fire. 

“Works for me.” Al followed Emma over the railing and down to the ground level.

Then Joe climbed onto the railing himself. “Well, good luck!”

“Yeah, you too. Don’t be too rough on those guys!”

As he jumped down after Emma and Al, Ren called down to him. “Be careful, alright?!”

“Sure, sure!”

Making sure my sports bag was secure, I started running down the metal walkway along with Ren and Sammie. “Okay! So where should we look first?!”

Sammie was the first to come up with something. “Well, this is supposed to be a factory, right?! Whatever we’re looking for is probably going to be in some kind of big container, or tank, or something like that! And it would definitely be on the bottom floor for safety reasons!”

“Alright, so we’re lookin’ for some huge-ass tank then, sounds good to me! But we should probably get as close to the other side before heading down there! We don’t wanna get in Joe’s way!” And as if right on cue, we could hear screaming enemy guards beneath us followed by lots and lots of fire. 

“I’ll scout on ahead!” And just like that, Ren was dashing off at the speed of light. 

We couldn’t argue with that. So Sammie and I kept pressing on down the walkway at our own pace. We ran into a few Chang-Los along the way, but they were a cinch to take care of; we didn’t even break a sweat. But something was just a little off.

Looked like Sammie thought so too. “Okay, I know that most of the guards are going to be downstairs, but why haven’t we seen anyone from Melisma yet?! You’d think they’d come for us right off the bat, right?!”

It seemed that we were tempting fate there, because right that second some flying guy appeared a few feet in front of us. “Ah, there we go!” I stopped in my tracks and got the Melisma grunt’s attention. “Hey you! Ya wanna fight, let’s go then!”

Sure enough, he came right for me. I was ready for him though. But before I could make my move, Ren came right out of nowhere and jumped straight onto the guy from above. And then just like that, she shoved him face down onto the walkway.

“Aww, come on! I was gonna get that guy!”

“We don’t have time! Let’s just get this thing over with!” Then she motioned for us to follow her. “Come on, this way! There’s a stairwell up ahead!”

We did as she said and followed her down said stairwell so that we were finally on the ground floor. And luckily for us, there just so happened to be a giant tank right there in the center. 

But before we could get to that, we had to take care of some minor nuisances first. Some more Melisma grunts had shown up, including one who could control wind. Anyway, this guy sent some wind blasts my way, which to my disappointment was not even enough to shift my footing.

I shook my head very unimpressed. “You call that wind? Here’s some real wind!” I retaliated by sending a mini tornado at the guy, and it swept him up along with a few of his friends in the process. Anyway, the thing sent them flying aways back, leaving my path to the drug tank perfectly clear.

“Alright you guys, cover for me for a minute, will ya?!” I shouted over my shoulder to Sammie and Ren. “Also, once this thing blows, we’ve gotta hightail it outta here, got that?!”

“Sure thing!” Sammie replied. “I’ve got your back!”

“Thanks!” Then I went to work. I knelt down on one knee as I let the strap of my sports bag slide down into the nook of my arm. I unzipped the bag, and without further ado, I pulled out my primary weapon of choice: the green bazooka.

“Augh, the blowback’s gonna be a bitch, but who gives a shit about that now?” After pushing the now-empty sports bag back over my shoulder, I braced myself as I took the bazooka and aimed at the tank. I didn’t know how tough or sturdy that thing was, so I figured multiple shots should probably do the trick. Also, the tank itself was still pretty far away, so we’d definitely have enough time to make a break for it.

Without wasting any time, I fired three consecutive shots of energy, and a few seconds later, they gave me that explosion I’d been hopin’ for. I quickly got back up with the bazooka in hand and shouted out to the other two. “Okay you guys, let’s move it!”

They didn’t need to be told twice. The Melisma grunts scrammed once the tank blew, which left me, Sammie and Ren free to head back to the other side of the facility where the rest of our group was at. We were probably about half way there when all of a sudden, some sort of shockwave hit the ground and sent the three of us flying, through the nearest window and several feet all the way outside.

“Owww,” I groaned as I slowly got back up on my feet. Surprisingly enough, the bazooka hadn’t been blown out of my hand. “How’s everyone?!”

“Okay, I guess!” Sammie replied with a wave of her hand. She had been able to break her fall with some sort of rock wall, so she didn’t look too bad.

Ren, on the other hand…. Well, we had landed pretty close to each other, and the first thing I noticed when I went to check up on her was that her foot was bent backwards. “Holy shit, are you alright?!”

“Yeah yeah, I’m fine! Don’t worry!” She went to touch her injured foot and, wincing, was able to twist it back into place. And then at the same time, any scratches or bruises she had previously gotten were now completely gone. “There, see? Good as new!”

“Well, okay, if you say so.”

Sammie then joined us and looked back over towards the facility. “What was that anyway? It couldn’t have been from the explosion, could it?”

Ren shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure someone did that deliberately.”

“Well whoever it was, they just pissed off the wrong person!” I marched forward a few steps and fired the bazooka at the building, not even caring where I hit it. It ended up blasting a huge hole in the wall, which worked out just fine for me. Who the fuck cared about property damage anyway? Not this chick, that was for sure!

In no time at all, the three of us made it back to the building, and with me taking the lead, I stepped through the hole back inside. “Alright, who the hell did that?!” 

I spotted Joe, Al and Emma right away, and then not too far away from them were two other guys. My guess was that one of them was responsible for the shockwave earlier. “You two! Who’re you, and what do you-”

Then I saw their faces. I hadn’t seen them for years, but I recognized them immediately. “... H-Hans? Derek?”

It was them alright, no doubt about it. And they sure looked surprised to see me too. “Cho?! Hey! Long time, no see!” Hans was beaming and waved at me, but Derek looked on edge. It was as if he didn’t want us to have met, and that got me suspicious.

I kept a firm grip on the bazooka as I took another step forward towards the pair of them. “What are you guys doing here anyway?!”

“Hm? Oh, well we heard there was some trouble over here, so we came over as fast as we could to help out!”

Again, that look on Derek’s face was making me a bit uneasy, and for good reason. I hadn’t heard from them in ages, and now of all times they decide to show up? Without any warning at that. Something was up…

I raised the bazooka and pointed it in their direction. “No, this is a Chang-Lo operation. So what are you doing here?”

The smile on Hans’ face faded, and he moved to scratch the back of his head- the one surefire way to tell when he was anxious. “Well, you see, umm….”

That got me thinking. They had come there to help? But how did they know about what was going on there? Unless…

“A-are you with Melisma?”

It was then that both of their faces went pale. “We need to leave,” I heard Derek mutter to Hans.

“Wait, what? B-but what about Cho?”

“We can’t stay now, we’ve said too much.”

“Hey! Are you with Melisma?! Answer me!”

As soon as I started making my way towards them, a portal appeared behind them. Then I noticed Derek holding a portal sphere. “We need to go. Right now!” He pushed Hans through before he could say anything else.

“Hey wait! We’re not done here yet, get back here dammit!”

I was too late. By the time I had reached the place where the portal was, it had already closed up behind Derek. They were gone.

From somewhere behind me, I heard Joe whip out his phone and dial a certain number. “Shuuhei? Yeah, we’ve got a problem. No no, the mission was successful, but we weren’t able to apprehend anyone. Well, because… Hans and Derek interfered, and it turns out that they’re with Melisma now.”

All I could do was stand there, staring at the spot where the two of them had been seconds earlier. At first, I couldn’t place my head around it. Why the hell would they join Melisma in the first place? They had been with ETMA for so long, and even after they left, they still had some incentive to come back one day. But then for some reason, they just abandoned that idea and went off to join an enemy organization. So why…

But then it got me thinking. While I was sure they still held a lot of respect for Shuuhei, there could only be one explanation for them joining Melisma that made any sense to me at all. Maybe they didn’t join because it was an enemy organization. What if it was because of someone they really cared about? Derek’s behavior pretty much confirmed my suspicions for me. He looked uneasy because he knew that whatever their reasoning for joining was, I wouldn’t like one bit.

What if, the leader of Melisma was… “‘Seph.”


End file.
